This invention relates to consumer use of what is here called the "television space". That is, the use of video/audio signal streams such as in the past have been distributed by broadcast over radio frequency bands or by cable distribution, or made available from video recorder/player devices such as cassette recorders or video disc player, or made available from direct, live sources such as cameras, game systems or computers. Such video/audio signal streams, whether carrying analog or digitally encoded information, have come to represent a significant resource to most consumers for information and entertainment.
Access to the television space has, in the past, been achieved by use of a television receiver. Then came changes in the methods of distribution, leading to the use of various set top devices such as cable boxes for analog signal streams, recorder/players, game machines, home cameras, etc. As such devices using the television space have proliferated, so also have the associated control devices. As television space technology has approached what is presently known as the "home theater", systems having as many as seven or more constituent components which are connected one to another have become possible. In such a system of systems, several or even all of the constituent systems may have its own remote control device, intended to enable a human observer to control the functionality of the respective constituent system while avoiding the necessity of directly manipulating control available at the face of the system. With the proliferation of systems, a user is frequently faced with a proliferation of remote control devices.
At the same time as remote controls have been proliferating, attempts to provide a "universal" remote have been made. Such attempts have resulted in remote controls having a manual interface, usually in the form of buttons, which approaches or exceeds the limits of human usefulness. By way of example, there are remote control devices offered with certain of the component systems for home theater use which may have fifty or so separate (and separately or jointly operable) buttons.
Such a proliferation of controls and proliferation of control functions results in an unmanageable situation for a consumer. Coordinating control among a plurality of remote control devices and system elements becomes quickly difficult to the point of impossibility. Further, the user interfaces easily become confused. It becomes difficult for a human observer to be certain of the response which may be achieved by selecting and actuating a particular button on a particular remote control.
The present invention proposes that these difficulties be resolved by providing, for the television space and for other environments presenting similar problems of resource allocation and navigation, a single remote control device which cooperates with a display controller and with control programs executed by the display controller and an associated central processing unit (CPU). The remote control device, in accordance with this invention, has access to the resources of the entire system with which it is related. Further, the navigation among functions available and resource allocation is accomplished by display of on-screen images which overlay or modify the images derived from the video/audio streams entering the television space. This is accomplished with minimal buttons to be actuated by the human observer.
The control programs executed by the display controller and the structure of those programs are the particular focus of this invention.